There are a number of special days of the year that are celebrated in different countries. The origins of most of the days are unknown. They were certainly not created by individual people. Other days, however, especially those celebrated in western countries often owe their origins to a particular person. One of the most popular of these, even though it is fairly recent, is Mother’s Day. Mothers have always been highly regarded in all cultures. The ancient Romans had a festival known as Hilaria, during which children took presents to the temple of the “Mother of the Gods”. The Christian Church adopted this idea and called it Mothering Sunday. However, over the years this custom was gradually forgotten, and almost disappeared by the end of the 19th century.
Born in 1864 in Virginia, US, Anna Jarvis was a school teacher and believed children should show gratitude to their mothers for all their love and care. Encouraged by a friend, she wrote to thousands of important people — politicians, churchmen, doctors, city officials and asked them to support her idea: a special day of the year for thanking mothers.
In 1910 the Governor of Western Virginia introduced Mother’s Day in the state. The date chosen was May 10 — the second Sunday in May, which is still observed in America today. This date was chosen because May 10 was the date on which in 1908 Anna Jarvis’s mother died. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made May 10 the official date for Mother’s Day throughout the United States.
Soon there was a Mother’s Day International Association and the custom began to be adopted in many countries of the world.
Anna Jarvis, a sad and disillusioned woman died in 1948. The custom she had worked so hard to establish and which had become almost universal had lost its original purpose. It had been taken over by business. As with Christmas, the giving of presents and the sending of cards had become a multimillion dollar industry.
1. The passage mainly tells us________.| A．how Mother’s Day came into being | B．how people celebrate Mother’s Day |
| C．a woman named Anna Jarvis | D．President Wilson and Anna Jarvis |
| A．Asia | B．America | C．Ancient Rome | D．the Christian Church |
| A．her students had nothing to do |
| B．she wanted to know important people in this way |
| C．she wanted to do something for mothers |
| D．she wanted people to thank their mothers |
| A．May 10 was the date on which Anna Jarvis’s mother died | B．it was the second Sunday in May in 1910 |
| C．May 10 is a lucky day | D．President Wilson like the date |
| A．watched | B．followed | C．ruled | D．set |
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【推荐1】If you are planning a New Year’s Eve party, make sure you have more planned than just the champagne toast at midnight and the finger foods. Your guests will have a much better time if you set up some games for them to play and enjoy.
Guess the Resolution（新年计划）—Give each member of the party five pieces of paper and a pencil. Ask them to write down five resolutions without writing down their names. Place all of the resolutions in a hat and mix them up. Pull pieces of paper out of the hat one at a time and see if your guests can guess which person came up with the resolution. There will be some fun surprises as strange or entertaining resolutions are read out loud.
New Year’s Rock Band—This game requires a collection of noisemakers, pots, pans and wooden spoons. These items will be your guests’ instruments as they play a song on the popular Guess That Tune game. Split the group into two teams. Have one team select four members to be their rock band for the turn and whisper the name of a song to the band members. The band must then play the song using their instruments while the rest of their teammates try to guess. The team gets a point if they get the song correct. Repeat the same step with the other team. This game will yield ridiculous performances of popular and entertaining songs.
Around the World-Most—New Year’s Eve parties don’t start until late evening. An around the world theme allows the party to start earlier in the day, with a celebration each time a new time zone reaches midnight. A world map displayed in the party room allows guests to track the current celebration. Adding a pin in each time zone as it reaches midnight adds an interactive element to the party. A menu with food from around the world emphasizes the theme of the party. Decorations may include globes and items from different parts of the world.
1. Which is necessary in “Guess the Resolution”?| A．Writing down resolutions with one’s name. |
| B．Reading out the resolutions one by one. |
| C．Putting some of the resolutions in the hat. |
| D．Writing down five resolutions on a piece of paper. |
| A．The host. | B．The band. |
| C．The teammates of the band. | D．The other team. |
| A．The party takes place in the evening. |
| B．There are guests from around the world. |
| C．There are various New Year’s Eves. |
| D．The celebrations last for several days. |
Date:15th Aug. —22nd Aug.
Location: Chepstow Center
2018 Music Festivals, UK
Details: Over 100 live bands plus DJs on five private solar-powered stages. A wonderful site in a wooded area of outstanding natural beauty. 8 days of inspiration and relaxation are about traditional crafts, campaign stalls(活动摊位), and a magical kids’ area.
Sport Beat Music Festival
Date: 20th Aug. —29th Aug.
Location: Oxstalls Sports Park
Details: Time for fun in the sun with Sport Beat. The festival is for those who wish there are volleyball and netball games that take place over the weekend. Attractions include: ball coaching, food village, and bars. Please see details for VIP passes on our website.
Creamfields Festival
Date: 26th Aug.—28th Aug.
Location: Daresbury Court
Details: Creamfields is the world’s leading dance music festival. Creamfields is famous for many things, not just its traditional world class dancing but its unbeatable atmosphere! The festival mixes together style breaking pioneers from across the DJ and live music spectrum(声谱).
Wilkestock Charity Music Festival
Date: 27th Aug.—31st Aug. Location: Wilkestock Stadium
Details: With entertainment this year from mystery jets to a huge electronic lineup(阵容), this festival keeps turning up the heat year on year while keeping all profits donated direct to charity.
1. At which festival can children probably enjoy themselves thoroughly?| A．Creamfields Festival. | B．The Green Gathering. |
| C．Sport Beat Music Festival. | D．Wilkestock Charity Music Festival. |
| A．At Oxstalls Sports Park. | B．At Daresbury Court. |
| C．At Wilkestock Stadium. | D．At Chepstow Center. |
| A．It gives its earnings to people in need. | B．It offers performance in the open air. |
| C．It entertains people with live music. | D．It has five private solar-powered stages. |
【推荐3】To an outsider, any culture can seem quirky(离奇古怪的), and confusing. And the UK’s got a thing or two that raises a few eyebrows. Brits are quite capable of confusing visitors with their characteristics. However, understand why and things might be less perplexing. Here are the reasons for three of Britain’s more puzzling practices.
In a world where 61% of nations drive on the right, Brits drive on the left. Most people think it goes back to Medieval, maybe even Roman times. This unusual behaviour makes sense when you remember that right-handed people wear a sword on their left hip. Travelling on the left allowed you to keep your weapon arm toward your opponent, who would be on your right. This practice persisted until the 18th Century when a law was passed requiring all traffic crossing London Bridge to keep to the left.
Visitors to the UK that have just washed their hands in an old-fashioned sink might be wondering why one tap is only for hot water, the other entirely cold. Either can make washing very uncomfortable. It relates to a time when hot and cold water were kept separate to prevent pollution. Drinkable cold water came from a mains supply, but hot water came from attic(顶楼) tanks and was not considered suitable for consumption. So they were kept apart.
Millions of people drink tea worldwide, but Brits put milk in theirs. Why? This practice relates to the quality of china cup used in the 18th Century when tea was first imported. For the majority of Brits, the cups available couldn’t withstand the heat of the boiling water and would break, so milk was added first. This cooled the cup enough to withstand the water. And this practical tweak soon became a national habit.
There’s a method to the madness, they say. As you can see, these quirky Brits have perfectly coherent reasons for left-hand driving, two-tap sinks and tea with milk. Even if they still seem strange, at least now you’re in the know.
1. According to the passage, what possibly led to Brits driving on the left?| A．The law passed in the 18th century. |
| B．The concern about the driver’s safety. |
| C．The existence of a number of bridges. |
| D．The unique design of the British roads. |
| A．They were all imported from China. |
| B．They were of low quality and easy to break. |
| C．They were used for drinking milk and coffee. |
| D．They couldn’t bear the heat and would break easily. |
| A．Negative. | B．Critical. | C．Neutral. | D．Approving. |
| A．Those Quirky Brits | B．A Glimpse of Britain |
| C．Puzzling Practices | D．A Method to the Madness |
【推荐1】Cities usually have a good reason for being where they are, like a nearby port or river. People settle in these places because they are easy to get to and naturally suited to communications and trade（贸易）. New York City, for example, is near a large harbour at the mouth of the Hudson River. Over 300 years its population grew gradually from 800 people to 8 million. But not all cities develop slowly over a long period of time. Boom towns grow from nothing almost overnight. In 1896, Dawson, Canada, was unmapped wilderness（荒野）. But gold was discovered there in 1897, and two years later, it was one of the largest cities in the West, with a population of 30,000.
Dawson did not have any of the natural conveniences of cities like London or Paris. People went there for gold. They travelled over snow-covered mountains and sailed hundreds of miles up icy rivers. The path to Dawson was covered with thirty feet of wet snow that could fall without warning. An avalanche（雪崩）once closed the path, killing 63 people. For many who made it to Dawson, however, the rewards were worth the difficult trip. Of the first 20,000 people who dug for gold, 4,000 got rich. About 100 of these stayed rich men for the rest of their lives.
But no matter how rich they were, Dawson was never comfortable. Necessities like food and wood were very expensive. But soon, the gold that Dawson depended on had all been found. The city was crowded with disappointed people with no interest in settling down, and when they heard there were new gold discoveries in Alaska, they left Dawson City as quickly as they had come. Today, people still come and go—to see where the Canadian gold rush happened. Tourism is now the chief industry of Dawson City—its present population is 762.
1. What do we know about those who first dug for gold in Dawson?| A．One out of five people got rich. | B．Half of them died. |
| C．Almost everyone gave up. | D．Two-thirds of them stayed there. |
| A．They found the city too crowded. | B．They wanted to try their luck elsewhere. |
| C．They were unable to stand the winter. | D．They were short of food. |
| A．Journeys into the wilderness. | B．The gold rush in Canada. |
| C．The rise and fall of a city. | D．Tourism in Dawson. |
【推荐2】Like reading? Interested in Chinese classical novels? Have a look at the following four books which are we known to most Chinese as Four Masterpieces.
The Water Margin
The Water Margin, also known as All Men Are Brothers in Pearl Buck’s translation, Shui Hu Zhuan in Chinese, is along chapter novel with the Song Jiang Uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty as the main background and type of heroic legend. It is an immortal (不朽的) novel and has inspired many storytellers. The author of the novel is generally regarded as Shi Nai’an (1296~1371).
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first full-length historical romance novel in China. Its author is Luo Guan zhong (about 1330~1400), a famous novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. Characters such as Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang have become household names among the Chinese.
Journey to the West
Journey to the West is the first romantic chapter novel about gods and devils in ancient China. There are 100 copies of Journey to the Westin the existing Ming Publications without the author’s signature. Wu Yuxuan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, first proposed that the author of Journey to the West was Wu Cheng’en (1500~1582) of the Ming Dynasty.
The Dream of the Red Chamber
The Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone, is said to be the greatest masterpiece of Chinese fiction. It is generally believed to be written by Cao Xueqin (about 1715~1763), a writer of the Qing Dynasty. With hundreds of persons and their stories, the story is very complex but also very interesting for its encyclopedic character(百科全书式的人物).
1. Which book should people read if they want to know something about the character Song Jiang?| A．The Water Margin. | B．Romance of the Three Kingdoms. |
| C．Journey to the West. | D．The Dream of the Red Chamber. |
| A．Shi Nai’an. | B．Luo Guanzhong. | C．Wu Cheng’en. | D．Cao Xueqin. |
| A．Health. | B．Literature. | C．Sports. | D．Science. |
【推荐3】The United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain, England-many people are confused by what these different names mean. So what is the difference between them, if any? Getting to know a little bit about British history will help you solve this puzzle.
In the 16th century, the nearby country of Wales was joined to the Kingdom of England. Later, in the 18th century, the country Scotland was joined to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In the 19th century, the Kingdom of Ireland was added to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Finally, in the 20th century, the southern part of Ireland broke away from the UK, which resulted in the full name we have today: “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Most people just use the shortened name: “the United Kingdom” or “the UK”. People from the UK are called “British”, which means the UK is also often referred to as Britain or Great Britain.
The four countries that belong to the United Kingdom work together in some areas. They use the same flag, known as the Union Jack, as well as share the same currency and military defence. However, they also have some differences. For example, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all have different education systems and legal systems. They also have their own traditions, like their own national days and national dishes. And they even have their own football teams for competitions like the World Cup!
The United Kingdom has a long and interesting history to explore, which can help you understand much more about the country and its traditions. Almost everywhere you go in the UK, you will be surrounded by evidence of four different groups of people who took over at different times throughout history. The first group, the Romans, came in the first century. Some of their great achievements included building towns and roads. Next, the Anglo-Saxons arrived in the fifth century. They introduced the beginnings of the English language, and changed the way people built houses. The Vikings came in the eighth century, left behind lots of new vocabulary, and also the names of many locations across the UK. The last group were the Normans. They conquered England after the well-known Battle of Hastings in the 11th century. They had castles built all around England, and made changes to the legal system. The Normans were French, so many French words slowly entered into the English language.
1. What can help us find out the difference between some different names of the UK?| A．British languages. | B．British history. |
| C．British location. | D．British education. |
| A．Britain. | B．Scotland. | C．Wales. | D．Ireland. |
| A．The flag. | B．The currency. |
| C．The military defence. | D．The education system. |
| A．Building towns and roads. |
| B．Changing the way of building houses. |
| C．Leaving behind many new vocabulary. |
| D．Changing the legal system. |
The two sentences above have opposite meanings and seem to be unreasonable, but they can be explained as follows: the first refers to all good friends who drive us towards good while the second all bad ones who lead us into bad ways.
My ideal friend is of course a good friend whose goodness is shown below — he has no bad habits, such as smoking and drinking. He lives in frugality (节俭). He studies hard so as not to waste his golden time. At home he honors his parents and loves his brothers; at school he respects his teachers and shares the feelings of his classmates. He treats those truly who are true to him. In a word, he has all the good characteristics that I don’t have. I can follow him as a model. With his help I can be free from all difficulties.
Indeed, if I have such a person as my friend, I shall never fear difficulty and I shall never know the existence of the word “failure”.
1. This passage tells us ____.
| A．how to make friends with others. |
| B．how to help friends. |
| C．what kind of person the writer’s friend is. |
| D．what kind of person we should make friends with. |
| A．a friend without bad habits. |
| B．a famous man. |
| C．a perfect man. |
| D．a respectable man. |
| A．the writer and his ideal friend have a lot to learn from each other. |
| B．the writer has a lot to learn from his ideal friend. |
| C．the writer’s ideal friend has a lot to learn from him. |
| D．the writer has only a little to learn from his ideal friend. |
| A．friendship means a great deal to him. |
| B．nothing can be done without friends. |
| C．he who does not smoke or drink must be a good friend.. |
| D．good friends should always help each other. |
【推荐2】We had a TV series in London. One of our fellow TV presenters seriously upset the camera crew when they arrived at his house. He was rude and unconcerned, treating them like lowly workers. Minutes later, when the camera was turned on, he became the perfectly smiling spiritual figure he was publicly known to be. But, as the crew told us later, he had already shown them that he didn’t walk his talk.
In contrast, Ed was meeting with Jo, our TV producer, in a small London cafe. If you have ever been to London you’ll know that in such cafe the tables are very close. Two well-dressed African men sat down next to them, which effectively meant they were sharing the same table. Ed asked the two strangers where they were from and one said, ＂South Africa.＂The man pulled out his business card — his name was Jacob Zuma who, at that time, was the President of the ANC but is now the President of South Africa.
Usually, if you sit next to someone in a big city cafe, you don’t even make eye contact, let alone conversation. Jacob had never met Ed before so he could have been distant and polite, he certainly didn’t have to talk, let alone maintain communication, which he did over the following few years. He even hugged him!
How we walk our talk shows far more than just our public behavior. Rather, it highlights how we view the world and our place in it. Jacob Zuma showed us how he treats others — with the fairness, consideration and respect that he treats all beings. No matter who we are, whether a street cleaner or a president, we are all equal, here together as one human family.
1. What can we learn about the TV presenter?| A．He felt upset before the camera. |
| B．He was known for his being impolite. |
| C．His deeds didn’t agree with his words. |
| D．He pretended to be polite to the camera crew. |
| A．Friendly. | B．Humorous. |
| C．Generous. | D．Serious. |
| A．To film a TV series. | B．To interview Jacob Zuma. |
| C．To meet with a TV producer. | D．To observe people’s public behavior. |
| A．TV presenters are often too proud. |
| B．There still exists inequality in society. |
| C．Learned people are more likely to be polite. |
| D．People should treat others with equal respect. |
【推荐3】Feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list can certainly make you unhappy, but a new study released last week suggests that more free time will not actually make people as happy as they commonly believe it will.
The researchers collected data from two large scale surveys, which included more than 35,000 replies. They found that people with up to two hours of free time a day generally had higher levels of well-being than those with less time. But people who had five or more hours of free time a day generally said they felt worse.
So the free-time “sweet spot” might be two to three hours per day, the findings suggest. “While being too busy can cause stress, having more time is not always better,” said Marissa Sharif, an assistant professor at The Wharton School，in a press release.
Experts note, for example, that some adults struggle with the “retirement blues,” which can be due to a lack of stimulation (刺激) and structure, among other things. The “sweet spot” seems to have something to do with how people spend the extra time they have, the researchers behind the new study argue.
They conducted several smaller online experiments. In one they asked participants to imagine having 3½ to seven free hours per day, and to imagine spending that time doing “productive" things (like exercising) or to imagine doing “unproductive” activities (like watching TV). The participants believed their well-being would suffer if they had a lot of free time during the day—but only if they used it unproductively.
Though that experiment was hypothetical, which is one limitation of the new research, it's certainly in line With other researches showing that being in a state of “flow” can be good for people's mental health. In other words, how people use their free time matters.
“In cases when people do find themselves with excessive amounts of spare time, such as retirement or having left a job,” Sharif said, “our results suggest these individuals would benefit from spending their newfound time with purpose.”
1. What's the common belief about “free time”?| A．More free time will bring people much happiness. |
| B．Too much free time will make one feel worse. |
| C．Less free time will make life full. |
| D．One is happy in his free time whatever he does. |
| A．Because they find it struggling to deal with daily life. |
| B．Because they find life is dull with too much free time. |
| C．Because they are not used to retirement life. |
| D．Because their life lacks care and warmth. |
| A．The study lacks data from participants. |
| B．The study doesn't agree with the others. |
| C．The number of participants is small. |
| D．The experiment is imagined. |
| A．Mrs. Wang, retired, spends over six hours watching TV. |
| B．Alex, a salesman, does one hour's reading and another hour's jogging. |
| C．Mr. Yang, a 996 programmer, struggles to find an hour to tutor his son. |
| D．Catherine, a stay-at-home mom, kills her free time purposelessly. |
